[For Vax] An Informal Engagement

[st_illunsmeared]

The phone line went dead without so much as a goodbye, and Phryne laughed smokily. She already liked the young man, but to find he dispensed with stuffy proprieties was simply delightful. Almost certainly, he had no idea he'd done so, but the lack of pretension was refreshing. She planned to enjoy his company immensely.

A quick call to Dot added pastry to the fruit and cheese she'd already been nibbling on, and a coffee and tea service to the champagne she had chilling, but beyond that, Phryne left the room as it was--not quite the whirlwind that Dot had first encountered with stockings on the chandeliers and Mary Janes on the bureau, but certainly not especially tidy.

Her person required a bit more straightening than the room. Telephone flirtation aside, Phryne had very little thought to entertain Vax'ildan in a room Jack frequented. Best then not to encourage it by receiving him in deshabille. Without Mr. Butler to hold him off, she chose a simple outfit of white on white with red accents and red lipstick that left her enough time to make up her eyes, unlock and prop open the door, and then flop back onto the couch with a book to await her guest.

Comments

[st_abby]

"Closer to the latter," he called it, seeing something had caught her interest, but having no concept of what that might be about. "And the women I love rarely need a champion. I rather meant my patron deity, the Raven Queen."

[st_illunsmeared]

Under different circumstances, Phryne felt she might have been inclined to pontificate on the subject of champions and Queens, but she'd save that for conversation with Jack, later. She had theories about everything and he generally enjoyed listening to them. Instead, she smiled, delighted to discover his patron was a woman. "How egalitarian of you," she said and was entirely genuine. "What is she like, your Raven Queen?"

[st_abby]

His own look had become something more somber, expressive face cinching a bit of tension around his eyes and across his brow. "Powerful. Terrifying. Mysterious. But... She's also merciful, in her way."

[st_illunsmeared]

"And is she a shaman or something more removed from your sphere?" Although sensitive to Vax'ildan's apparent tension, her curiosity would lead, unless or until he asked her to stop. "Do forgive me if it's rude to speak of her so. I'm fascinated by cultures that give women their due."

[st_abby]

"She's not mortal, if that's what you mean. Though the stories say she was, once." He didn't find her rude, but it was strange for him to be in the position of having to explain such things. It was exceedingly rare, that a mortal should have any direct relationship with a god - but in Exandria, their powers were very much in evidence, and the chosen amongst the most devout could call upon such deities to aid them. "She was a powerful sorceress-queen in life, and when her mortal self died, she became the consort of the evil death god. She stole his power, then overthrew him, creating her own kingdom."

[st_illunsmeared]

"How fascinating." Phryne did, in fact, look absolutely rapt. "There were such stories once, in my world, a very long time ago." The Titans and the gods, among them. "However, it was nearly always male powers overthrowing female."

It had never properly made sense to her to venerate the ability to plant a seed over the ability to gestate it, but men were forever desirous of the female ability to create life.

"What does one do as a Champion for a goddess of... well, death one supposes?"

[st_abby]

"You're a clever one," Vax confirmed, sincere in his admiration.

"Well, if one is me, you end up fighting on behalf of your goddess as she plucks at the strings of fate." He made a bit of a face. "She generally seems to approve of what my party and I have done to try and keep the people of Exandria from being dominated by a group of power-hungry dragons, but I... To tell you the truth, this is all rather new to me. I'm not sure of what I'm doing or what she'll want of me yet, not really."

It only haunted him when he stopped to think about it.

[st_illunsmeared]

So she'd been right in assuming that being a goddess of death didn't mean she or her Champion need be devoted to murder, or otherwise causing death. "It sounds as though she means you to safeguard the lives of the people you encounter...mmm, perhaps until she means for them to die?"

Phryne's expression relaxed into an amused, self-effacing smile. "Forgive me speculating. It's a habit born of solving crimes."

[st_abby]

"I don't imagine you'd be so good at it if you didn't," Vax allowed.

He stopped to consider how Phryne had phrased things. "I don't know that She means anyone to die at a set place, a set time, though maybe She foresees it," he supposed honestly. All he could do was speculate, and he wished not for the first time that he'd had an opportunity to stop and learn from the priests of Her temple. "I think She's more... Like a guide, assuring that those come to the end of their journey pass from this world to their rest as intended. There's such things as the undead, necromancy, corruption and desecration."

[st_illunsmeared]

"A psychopomp then," she replied softly, overwhelmed abruptly by thoughts of her poor Jane and how she'd died in Phryne's own place to accompany Foyle to his afterlife. She knew better than to associate the two because her own memories pained her, but it did dampen her enthusiasm for the topic for the moment.

[st_abby]

Vax had never heard the word before, so he really couldn't say. But he understood well enough the sudden quiet to her mood. "Your sister," he supposed softly.

He didn't know what to say for that, and there may not be anything. If there was one thing he understood - as well as any mortal could, short of actually dying themselves - it was death. The making of it, fending against it, the recognizing all that came after. So he just leaned forward, a bit, reaching to fold his gloved hand over hers for a soft squeeze.

"I think," he said finally, only after the moment had passed, "that you are a very remarkable woman, Miss Fisher. Thank you for having me over." It might have sounded forced or insincere, awkward, from someone else. But he meant it, truly.

[st_illunsmeared]

Had he asked, Phryne would have told him about Foyle. He was a sweet young man, undoubtedly one she might have taken to her bed if not for Jack. But the moment passed and Phryne merely nodded when he mentioned Jane.

She turned her hand to give his an appreciative squeeze. "And you are an extraordinary and unusual young man, Vax'ildan. I look forward to our next conversation with delight." There could be no mistaking the warmth of the implicit invitation, even for a young man who didn't know her particularly well. "I do hope it won't take an accidental connection next time."